Eminem just dropped a new single, “Campaign Speech” – his first song in three years – and while it’s a clear show of the celebrated rapper’s incredible lyrical dexterity, it’s hard to get past just how immature he still feels the need to be.

Now don’t get me wrong, Eminem is one of my favourite rappers ever. Like a lot of suburban white kids who didn’t necessarily understand the genre when they first heard it, Em made rap that was accessible to kids like me. The mix of aggression and artistry was entertaining and fascinating, his wordplay was phenomenal, and the deplorable character of Slim Shady will live on long after the rapper himself. But it’s been seventeen years since he shocked the world by rapping about impregnating Spice Girls and raping lesbians, and Em has refused to grow up with his fanbase.

“Campaign Speech” is incredibly well written. Em’s ability to riff off a single syllable for bars at a time has kept him in the GOAT conversation for years, and his latest track is a clear example of his undeniable skills. He even gets political in the seven-minute tirade, sounding off not just against Donald Trump (“a fuckin’ loose cannon who’s blunt with his hand on the button / who doesn’t have to answer to no one”) but against police brutality as well:

“I’m givin’ Daniel Pantaleo a refresher course
On excessive force and pressure points
And dressin’ George Zimmerman in a fluorescent orange
Dress and four inch heels to address the court
With a bullseye on his back, his whole chest and torso
Or left on the doorsteps of Trayvon’s dad as a present for him”

Em doesn’t often talk about political issues as anything further than satirical one-liners, and while it’s excellent to see him approaching topics like this, these bars are couched in seven minutes of rape jokes, shredded foreskin, “Robin Thicke with a throbbin’ dick”, and enough homophobia to make 2009 Tyler the Creator cringe. Em may have appalled more parents than Marilyn Manson in his prime, but as a 44-year-old man, maybe it’s about time that he accepts that he doesn’t need to shock and disgust to get notice. He’s well established as one of the greatest ever.

Considering the fact that his last album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, might have been the worst of his career (despite the Grammys somehow considering it the best rap album of the year, against classics like Oxymoron and Because The Internet), a change-up might be necessary to remind people that he’s more than the guy who writes songs like “Fack”. While the Kendrick-assisted “Love Game” is by far the best song off Mathers 2, the sophomoric slurping noises partway through the first verse are cringeworthy enough to take away the track’s replayability.

Many would argue that Eminem’s shock factor is an inseparable part of his image as an artist, and while that’s not necessarily wrong, it’s difficult to understand why artists like Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples have moved on from carelessly offensive lyrical content to prove themselves as some of the best artists going, but Eminem remains mired down in a schtick that was popular in 2001 but now doesn’t even sit well with some of his oldest fans. Maybe I’m just not as much of a Stan as I used to be, but I think it’s a shame that Em’s obsessive need to cause an ethical stir keeps people from experiencing the writing he’s capable of:

“You wanna go against ‘zilla? The Rap God
When will I quit? Never been realer
The in-stiller of fear, not even a scintilla of doubt
Whose pen’s iller than Prince in a chincilla
Or Ben Stiller in a suspense thriller
Revenge killer, avenge syllable binge
Fill a syringe, ’til I draw first blood
Even pop shit on my pop shit, and it’s popular.”

I’m still excited from his just-announced ninth studio album, but hopefully he can grow up a little bit and cause controversy in a way that doesn’t sound like a mysoginist, homophobic fourteen-year-old with anger issues.